• Curated Programme
  • Tensta Konsthall, Spånga, Sweden
  • 2015

The Eros Effect: Art, Solidarity Movements and the Struggle for Social Justice

Symposium and film programme. The Eros Effect: Art, Solidarity Movements and the Struggle for Social Justice Saturday 17 October and Sunday 18 October 2015 Tensta Konsthall Taxingegränd 10, 163 04 Spånga, Sweden Saturday 17 October, 10am-6pm The symposium forms the starting point of a multi-year inquiry into the relationship between art and solidarity movements, performed in a series of commissions, exhibitions, workshops, presentations, and film screenings. Faced with fascist parties gaining ground in Europe and an increasingly tough social climate, we see the necessity to return to the notion of solidarity in order to try its validity today. Will solidarity still be relevant in the future, or is it a historical concept? Do we need to find new ways to describe the political movements of today and their struggles, sympathies, and commitments? What does recognizing the urgency of a situation imply, and how do we act upon it? The invited speakers are Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc (Metz), Filipa César (Berlin), Kodwo Eshun (London), Peo Hansen (Norrköping), Ingela Johansson (Stockholm), Stefan Jonsson (Norrköping), Kristine Khouri (Beirut), Doreen Mende (Berlin), Bojana Pi_kur (Ljubljana), Natascha Sadr Haghighian (Berlin/Tehran), Rasha Salti (Beirut), Rojda Sekersöz (Stockholm), Gulf Labor/Ashok Sukumaran (Mumbai), Håkan Thörn (Güteborg), Dmitry Vilensky (S:t Petersburg), Marion von Osten (Berlin), Mathias Weg (Stockholm) and Aleksandra Ölund (Norrköping) 'The Eros Effect' project borrows its title from the researcher and activist George N. Katsiaficas's essay by the same name from 1989. We will continue to build on the analytical tool 'Eros Effect', which is an attempt to acknowledge the emotional aspects of social movements. The concept thus aims to turn away from earlier theories that considered 'mass movements' as primitive and impulsive, as emotional outbursts, or as exclusively rational efforts in order to change the norms and institutions of a society. With his notion the Eros Effect, Katsiaficas suggests that social movements always constitute both and that the struggle for liberation is equally an 'erotic' act and a rational desire to break free from structural and psychological barriers. Franz Fanon made similar observations when he stated that resistance towards colonialism causes positive effects on the emotional life of individuals. Film Programme Sunday 18 October, 1-4pm Mathieu Abonnenc, Ça va, ça va, on continue (2013) Chto Delat, The Lesson on Dis-Consent (2011) Otolith Group, In the Year of the Quiet Sun (2013) Lennart Malmer, Poetry of Anger (1978) Symposium speaker programme: 10:00 Introduction by Maria Lind, Stefan Jonsson, and Peo Hansen 10:30 Filipa César: Notes on Luta Ca Caba Inda (The struggle is not over yet) 10:50 Marion von Osten: The Tricontinentale Net – Prospects_and Projects 11:10 Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc: A Continental Drift 11:30 Pause 11:50 Håkan Thörn: The Meaning of Solidarity: The Case of the Global Anti-Apartheid Movement 12:10 Ingela Johansson: The Great Miners' Strike 1969-70 in Sweden and its solidarity actions 12:30 Bojana Pikur: The Museum of Solidarity in Santiago 1971 12:50 Kodwo Eshun: Forms of Discontent in Handsworth Songs _by Black Audio Film Collective 13:10 Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti: In the Labyrinths of Exhibition Histories: The International Art Exhibition for Palestine, Beirut 1978 13:45 Lunch 14:30 Stefan Jonsson: The Question of Solidarity 14:45 Peo Hansen: Solidarity Knows Only Borders: Reflections on the Current Refugee Crisis in the European Union 15:10 Natascha Sadr Haghighian: Left To Our Own Devices 15:30 Mathias Weg: The Politics of Self Organization 15:50 Pause 16:10 Aleksandra Ölund: Swedish Urban Justice Movements – Options Ahead? 16:30 Ashok Sukumaran/Gulf Labor: The Museum and the Camp 16:50 Dmitry Vilensky: Rosa's House of Culture 17:10 Rojda Sekersöz: The Story in Focus 17:30 Doreen Mende: Solidarity in Struggle 18:00 Discussion The symposium is a collaboration with REMESO: The Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society at Linköping University. This is the first presentation within the project 'The Eros Effect: Art, Solidarity Movements and the Struggle for Social Justice'.